#WCW May with Amy Guan
We are super excited to have Amy Guan as our new guest of Women Crush Wednesday series!
Welcome, Amy! Tell us a little bit about yourself and your typical day.
Hey there! I’m Amy, a firm believer of ABE: Always Be Eating, and a Senior Product Designer at Wistia where we build software for video-loving businesses. My day-to-day there involves working on our tool that helps people tell a story through video, trying to gain the affection of our office dog Lenny, and occasionally dancing in our homepage video. Am I good on camera? Quite frankly, no, but I’m trying to get better at it.
How did you get involved in the tech industry and specifically in Product Design?
This is slightly embarrassing, but I had absolutely no idea what Product Design was when I graduated with my shiny graphic design degree. At the time, interaction and experience design were not fields taught at my university, so a majority of my classmates and I graduated with the dream of working for the “big name” creative agencies in the area. It wasn’t until a friend I had met through my computer science classes reached out with a job opening that I learned about UX design. Here’s a snippet of how that conversation went:
“… there’s a UX design position opening on my team. Come work with me!”
“What’s UX design?”
“You design something, show it to people, and if it sucks, you design it again.”
“Oh, alright. Cool. I think I can do that.”
And that was how I got introduced to the concept of UX design, and landed my first tech job. I’d like to think my process has refined a bit since then but thanks, Eric. 👋
What advice do you have for others going through a similar shift to Product Design?
Don’t be afraid to ask a lot of questions. For those of us transitioning with a design background, we have the advantage of knowing how to see good design, but usually have yet to understand how it provides value. At its core, product design is about understanding the problem from the perspective of the user. Without asking questions, you’ll never be able to discover why they have this need, and how to solve for it. The same goes for understanding your new role — your peers are your greatest resource and if asked the right questions, they’ll be able to help you understand both the why and how.
What does a senior product designer do?
Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. A senior product designer is someone who starts to teach that man to fish by not only looking at the problem at hand (hunger), but also addressing where that problem stems from (an inability to procure food).
Were there any obstacles you personally had to overcome while advancing your career?
A common misconception in any industry is that in order to advance in your career, you have to start managing. Choosing to become an individual contributor can sometimes feel like taking the less certain path, if only because it’s a track still being established by many companies today. It took me longer than I’d care to admit that I was uncomfortable with that ambiguity, and it made deciding which track I wanted to follow a difficult decision. Ultimately, it’s about what skill sets you want to develop. I realized that while I enjoy helping others grow, I can do so in capacities outside of direct management.
What are the challenges that you are facing at the current point of your career?
Outside of working with my team to solve the problem at hand, how can I make holistic contributions that have a greater impact across the company? It’s alluring to work on a project just because it sounds important, but what is its true benefit beyond the glamour?
How do you overcome those challenges and what tips do you have for those in a similar situation?
Maybe it’s double dipping to use the same answer twice, but don’t be afraid to ask a lot of questions. As you progress in your career and become “senior”, it doesn’t mean you’re no longer allowed to ask for help. I frequently rely on my manager, team, and mentors for unbiased suggestions and feedback. For me, it helped to approach that challenge the way I would approach any other design challenge — by looking at it from the lens of the user (in this case, my teammates!).
What do you love most about your job?
Everyone is the voice of our user. At Wistia, we do something called Champ For A Day. That means everyone, regardless of their position, works in our support inbox with our Customer Champs for a few hours every quarter to understand the problems our users encounter. In turn, this means everyone has a unique perspective to offer!
Where do you draw inspiration?
I shamelessly use my team Slack channel to poll people about the latest products or interactions they’ve loved. That’s the appropriate use of @here right? And when it’s too late in the night to garner responses, the talented designers I follow on Dribbble have always proven to get me out of a design slump.
Five things you cannot live without as a product designer?
Keyboard shortcuts, this Sketch “Unlock All Layers” plugin, someone to bounce ideas off of, a 005 Micron pen (thank you Wistia for the school supply runs), and a good playlist.
How did you hear about Ladies that UX?
I first heard about y’all when I was researching UX groups to suggest to someone I was mentoring. It was a bit shocking to discover… “Like what? There’s such a strong representation of women in UX in Boston, and I didn’t even know about it till now?” It was a pretty great moment.
What brought you to Boston and what do you love about Boston?
I’m from the area actually! After graduating from Boston University, I kept discovering great opportunities that have kept me close to home. As funny as it sounds, my favorite part about Boston is how easy it is to leave it. I love cycling, and the riding gets real nice once you’re outside the city. The White Mountains are also always calling, and it’s just a short drive away.
Favorite brunch spot in the area?
The Breakfast Club is your classic greasy spoon diner. I’m a big fan of ordering The Basket Case because why wouldn’t I want all the things?
Thanks so much for sharing your story, Amy! We hope to see you at our future meetups!
Check out Amy’s website and get to know Amy in real life.
I think conversations are most free-flowing over a good meal (ABE), so let’s grab a bite some time and we can talk about your favorite subreddits, how I used to have a hammock instead of a couch in my living room, or what you thought about my dancing. You did watch the video, right?
